Here I’m going to post some laptop screen photos showing bad video output. I’ll explain what was wrong with the screen and how I fixed it. I plan to ad more examples as soon as I get new pictures. If you have your own example (and know how to fix it) please let me know and I’ll post it too.
Here’s some help for finding a correct part for your laptop.
Other post related to troubleshooting laptop video problems:
How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems
Taking apart notebook LCD screen
Replacing LCD screen inverter
The newly installed screen is not working
Example 1.
Here’s a picture of Satellite M55 LCD screen I made this morning. I got this video output as soon as I started the laptop. There were a lot of vertical lines, and they were changing color without any pattern. To me it looked like Northern Lights (never seen in real life) 
. The external monitor worked fine.
As soon as I applied some tension to the screen it changed the pattern. Some horizontal lines appeared in the middle of the LCD.
Here’s the difference. When I torque the screen, the image appears but it’s distorted with some horizontal lines running across the screen.
Reseating the video cable didn’t make any change and the problem was fixed after I replaced the LCD screen.
Example 2.
I took this picture from Toshiba Satellite M65. I think that this example is very typical. One day you wake up, turn on the laptop and see one or a few hair-like vertical lines in different colors.
When you move the LCD screen some lines might disappear or more lines appear on the screen. A video output on an external screen would be perfect, without any lines. Unfortunately, these lines indicate a screen problem. I’ve never seen this kind of video output caused by a bad video cable or bad FL inverter board. My laptop was fixed after I replaced the LCD screen.
Example 3.
The photo below comes from Toshiba Satellite 5205. The laptop displays identical vertical lines all over the LCD screen as soon as I turn it on. Sometimes these lines are red, sometimes they are blue, sometimes they become wider and change color to white.
The same pattern appears on the external monitor. It displays same vertical lines. When the same video defect appears on both monitors – internal LCD screen and external screen, then most likely it happens because of a bad video card. On some laptops the video card is integrated into the system board, on other models it’s a separate module.
In this example, the vertical lines were caused by a failed video memory on the system board. I’ve tested the video memory with Microscope utility and it failed the test. In Toshiba Satellite 5205 the video memory is integrated into the system board. To fix the problem, I’ll have to replace the board. (We do not have equipment to replace the memory module itself).
Example 4.
Here’s another example of a bad LCD screen. My bad! It wasn’t the LCD screen problem.
As soon as I turned on the laptop, I was getting these reddish marks on the LCD screen but not on the external monitor. Reseating and replacing the video cable didn’t help. The problem disappeared when I installed my test LCD screen. Yes, for some reason I wasn’t able to reproduce the problem on my test LCD screen. But the reddish video appeared again as soon as I replaced the screen. I guess it happened because the system board had some kind of intermittent problem with onboard video or video connector. Long story short, I had to replace the system board and it fixed the problem. Yep, I misdiagnosed this laptop.
Example 5.
Here’s one more example of a faulty LCD screen. The left half of the screen works just fine but the right side is completely white.
Example 6.
Here’s another laptop with a bad LCD screen. This time it’s a tablet PC.
Example 7.
This screen looks like the screen on the example 1. I hooked up an external monitor and the external video works perfectly fine.
Here’s the difference. When I torque the screen, the image appears but it’s distorted with some horizontal lines running across the screen.
After a few seconds the image washes away.
I had to replace the LCD screen.
Example 8.
This laptop displays inverted colors right from the startup. As you see, the Toshiba logo is light green instead of red. The background is light gray instead of black. The Intel logo should be blue on a white background but it is red on a black background.
When your laptop displays inverted colors as on the picture above, this is an indication of a bad screen. You’ll have to replace the screen.
Example 9.
Here are two more screens. In both cases this problem is related to the LCD screen, witch means the screen has to be replaced.
On the image below you see a white band running from the top of the screen to the bottom. This band appears right from the laptop startup and runs through the logo too.
On the following image only the left side of the screen is working properly. This problem is caused by faulty LCD screen.
Are you looking for a new LCD screen for your laptop? Try here.
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September 4th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Hello,
I’ve got a laptop XPS M1210 and since last week all the pictures or videos appear blurry… somewhat like watercolor images but, other graphics (e.x: word editor) on a white background are fine. Onother observation: when Windows is loading on a Windows blue starting screen, instead the clear light blue on upper left corner I can see something like a sun with round circles around.
I tought is from a corupted driver, so I rebuild the system but, without luck. Even I opened the laptop and checked all the connectors and clear the dust but, with the same bad luck. I connected another monitor and also a HD TV to the laptop and on these the pictures and video are perfect. So I hope is the LCD or other component and not the videocard which is on board.
Please let me know your thougths. I appreciate any sugestion.
Thank you.
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Hello, I have a Presario V5204NR and I replace the LCD thinking I had a bad one. The new LCD is still showing the same bright white light background. When I plug a external monitor up, the only display I see is the Windows XP Logon screen then the external monitor goes black and does not display anything else. I can hear the windows sound when it’s booting to the desktop…so I know the laptop boots up fine. I have also tried resetting all the cables and inverter. What do you think could be causing the white screen?
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Follow-up to 9/1 post:
Short of having a spare of each to test, do you know of a way that I could tell if the problem is the video cable or the connector on the motherboard?
Thanks again
September 1st, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Hi,
I replaced the LCD screen on a Dell M1210 and that did not resolve the problem. Images on LCD look like a coloring book, but display normally to an external monitor. Reseating the cable doesn’t help and the inverter seems to be fine – bad video cable?
Thanks,
Colleen
September 1st, 2009 at 8:10 am
Hugo,
Each problem has its own solution. When I say it’s a bad screen, it means you have to replace the screen. When I say it’s a bad video cable, you have to replace the cable.
The only universal solution for all problem is replacing all parts together. Replace LCD screen, video cable, motherboard, video card and most likely you’ll fix it.
August 31st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
But what´s the solution for all this problems?Change the LCD screen?Change inverter,cables,conectors,…
August 26th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Tom,
Most likely there is a problem with the LCD screen. You’ll have to replace the screen.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Dave,
Is it a thin vertical line? Sounds like LCD problem.
There is a chance of bad video cable but from my experience when cable fails it affect video on the entire screen.
Find another source. That’s very strange that you are getting so many defective screens.
Again, sounds like you are getting bad screens.
Are you sure that LCD screens are compatible with your laptop? Maybe there is no backlight because your new screens are not compatible with the video cable. Just a guess.
August 26th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Toshiba Satellite M35X-S349 laptop has a pink line in LCD. Replaced the LCD with 3 compatible LCD’s, and all 3 had bad backlight.
I have 6 different M35X inverters (K000018860) which I swapped out with each LCD, and they all did not resolve the problem.
If I put the original LCD (with the pink line) into the laptop, there is no backlight problem and all 6 inverters test ok.
Reseated all the video cables many times (including to motherboard).
The screen looks normal through an exterior monitor (for all LCD’s).
I pushed the white button many times and did not solve anything.
What the heck is going on??
Any help would be appreciated.
August 24th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
turn on my laptop and got a colorful one inch strip down the middle to the screen. Thought it was from getting to hot, so I let it cool down my turning it off. After 30 min., booted it up, line was gone for about five min. then it came back. Any ideas what it may cause this effect?